Two Dozen Sparks
by Fearless Rider
Summary: Katniss wasn't the only spark in the 74th Games. One-shot. T just to be safe.


For a while now I've thought it was odd how the line up worked in the 74th Games, it was an unusual group of tributes. I wanted to highlight that here, but I'm not sure if I did or not, anyway enjoy the backstories.

Suzanne Collins owns The Hunger Games and characters, all I own are the bits of backstory I created.

Format inspired by AimyourarrowsHigh's Twenty-Four Victors, Twenty-Four Tributes. Go read it. Seriously.

Some of the names were from the Hunger Games Wiki, some I made up, others are Easter eggs. Some of the bits about their deaths are taken from info from the wiki about the movie.

* * *

The Hunger Games. Every year a time to celebrate the triumph of the Capitol over the districts. Every year twenty-four boys and girls left their homes and loved ones behind to fight to the death.

Twenty-three corpses returned home.

One victor took the journey back to his or her district, only, most of them never went home, not really. They spent the rest of their lives in that arena, replaying the scenes of horror over and over.

Seventy-three victors, one thousand seven hundred fifteen bodies and there was no reason to think it would ever change.

The seventy-fourth games were different, even if at first nobody knew.

Twenty-four tributes travelled to the Capitol.

Two came home.

The numbers weren't even.

And even if twenty-two bodies went home to their districts…

A single spark could set everything ablaze.

Nobody played by the right rules.

And twenty-four sparks played the Games.

* * *

**D1 Glimmer:**

She had trained all her life for this moment. The moment when she could thrust forward and volunteer for the Games. She grabbed it and when her mother said good-bye she kissed her forehead and told her to win for her older sister, Diamond who had died two years ago in the final four. Glimmer couldn't wait to get out, to be a victor. She would be more beautiful than even Cashmere and she would tell her big sister's story to the world.

**D1 Marvel:**

Marvel was just another Career. Not the best, not the brightest, not anything. People shook their heads and said he didn't live up to his name. Only his girlfriend, Ruby thought he was worth something. Not even his own parents… but it was his name drawn from the Reaping and so by tradition no one else could volunteer. Marvel took the stage with a huge grin, ready to show them what he could do.

**D2 Clove:**

Clove was not District 2's choice to volunteer. She was number two and Clove could not bear to be number two. When the rankings came home from the academy her mother screamed at her and smacked her until she stormed out of the house. The number one girl woke up that night with a knife driven through her eyeball and the path was clear for Clove to volunteer for the Games.

**D2 Cato:**

He had always been a cold-blooded killing machine. His father was a victor and his mother had died when he was just a baby. Gotten sick and they couldn't get the medicine, because the Capitol wouldn't send it. So he trained. He killed. He should have been the star of the show when he got there, a child of a victor, but that stupid twelve girl outshone them all. When she scored higher than him in training, Cato changed his vow to win to a vow to kill her himself.

**D3 Byte:**

Byte was never anything special, the youngest of a brilliant family, the one who wore the hand me downs that were washed to rags, whose grades never quite measured up. She was only thirteen when she was Reaped and neither of her older sisters volunteered. Byte knew she was headed to her death with her best friend, but she wasn't surprised. After all she wasn't good for anything anyway. She just hoped that the girl from District 12 knew how lucky she was to have a sister like Katniss.

**D3 Trojan:**

Trojan never expected to be Reaped. He was smart. The Capitol ought to know that from his test scores. They wouldn't want to pick him, he suspected it was rigged after all. But when they picked Byte he knew the world was crashing down and when they called him, well, that was that. It was okay though, as he whispered to her that evening on the train, he had a plan. He never expected her to die before he could carry it out, but he tried anyway, ingratiating himself to the Careers, setting the mines, doing the impossible. If only that District 12 girl hadn't messed it up for him, maybe he would have stood a chance.

**D4 Anemone:**

She was sharp, just like her namesake. She allied herself with the other Career girls as quickly as possible. Glimmer was a joke, Clove was dangerous, but Anemone was going to win so she could get back to her beloved sea. Let her father try to hit her when she was a victor. She would be able to get rid of him finally and take her little brother out of that house. It was just too bad for her that they didn't have tracker jackers by the sea and she didn't realize she had to run quickly enough.

**D4 Kale:**

Kale volunteered to go to the Games when the runt from down by the shore got Reaped. He didn't stand a chance after all and Kale was going to win it. He was never supposed to die in the Blood Bath, cut down by some District 12 nobody.

**D5 Finch**:

Finch was a genius, everybody said so. She just grinned her little grin and let them talk, she didn't need them to confirm what she already knew. When she was called she skipped up to take the stage, radiating her quiet confidence, smiling her sly grin, hoping there were a few intelligent sponsors who would take a chance and see that she wasn't big, but she was a competitor. As her mother said, it was no problem, she just had to outlast them like she did to everyone at home. She just got so hungry, 2, 11, and 12 were taking too long to kill each other and she had nothing to eat so when 12 was getting ready to eat himself she thought they were safe. When she started gagging and choking on the tart juice she realized her mistake.

**D5 Farron: **

He didn't mean to kill that little girl from 3. He didn't see who it was, he was hoping if he made a kill early and got out then maybe he'd get a sponsor or two and he was trying to avoid Finch with her little smirk at all costs. But when he saw the girl splayed out on the ground, eyes wide in death he froze, thinking of his little sister back home and District 8 got his hands around his neck.

**D6 Kara:**

She didn't have a whole lot of hope, but she was going to try. All she knew how to do was drive a train, the career she was going to be assigned, but she tried her hand at weapons during training and learned. She even held her own against Glimmer at the Cornucopia, but she was just a little too slow. Maybe she should have just run.

**D6 Jason**:

Jason knew he was dead the minute 2 accused him of stealing his knife. He had been hopeful before, he was relatively well fed and not too weak. He liked the small sword he had been practicing with in training and when he saw a chance to get it, he went in. Cato got there first.

**D7 Leigha:**

She could win this. She knew she could. Johanna Mason was her idol and she had trained with an axe since she could walk, just like her. She had to win, she had to come back home for her hungry little brothers. If she won, they would have food, so she would win. She had been so sure she could wrestle that pack away from the scrawny kid from 3, but she couldn't and when she fell, the Careers were waiting to finish her off.

**D7 Sam:**

He knew that he had to go after 12. She was dangerous even if the other couldn't tell. He had no chance at bringing down a Career, but she would be easy. He got his hands on a small axe and went for her, but she was gone as he threw. He was going to retrieve it when the knife buried itself in his back and he fell.

**D8 Kenzie**:

She got out of the bloodbath and was relieved. Maybe she had a chance after all. Maybe she could still win, like Ms. Twill told her to in school with a faraway look, when she said to win, to come home, they were going to need her soon. She just got so cold and surely a little fire wouldn't hurt? When there were so many others to go after who would come for her?

**D8 Jon:**

He knew he was dead the moment they called Kenzie's name. How could he kill her? He had only had a crush on her forever. He hoped someone else would volunteer for her, but no. He allied with her during training, promising to keep her alive. He wasn't doing badly, he covered her when she went in for her bag, taking out 5, but 1 got to him. The last thing he saw was her escaping over the ridge into the forest. He died happy.

**D9 Demetria**:

She knew she wasn't going to win, but she thanked her lucky stars it had been her going in and not her twin sister with the leg, ruined from the accident when they were kids. She felt bad for the District 10 boy, taking the time to talk to him during training. Maybe she would have joined up with him if she hadn't died in the bloodbath.

**D9 Imanol:**

He didn't mean to fight for a backpack with the fire girl. He just wanted to grab something so he could run. He should have listened to his dad who was dead three years at the Capitol's hands. Never turn your back on the enemy.

**D10 Dakota:**

She had something to fight for, a boyfriend back home, parents who loved her, but she just didn't think she could become who they wanted her to be. She wanted to take care of sick animals. She couldn't even squish a spider, how was she supposed to kill another person?

**D10 Jem:**

No one old Jem he could win. They all knew he couldn't. Crippled from birth, really the best he could hope for was a death that didn't hurt too much. His uncle told him to try to outlast the others, so he did. He wished Demetria hadn't died though, she had seemed so nice and they were going to go together. He waited a whole week, hiding, until the Careers found him.

**D11 Rue**:

She knew there was a chance she might get reaped. Her parents hadn't wanted her to, but she had taken out the tesserae anyway, anything to feed her siblings. She had a plan and she stuck to it, until she met Katniss. She couldn't help but trust the older girl and she wanted to help her as much as she could. When she got stuck in the trap, she knew Katniss would come for her, it was just a little too late. When Katniss sang her the song, she saw her parent's faces as she drifted away into blessed, cool darkness, where she saw her grandmother, waiting on the other side.

**D11 Thresh:**

Last year. He was almost safe. When they chose that little girl he clenched his hands into a fist. She looked just like Rose, his own sister who had died two years ago when she caught the flu. He wanted to win this for his grandma and cousin, but he wasn't going to touch that little girl and God could try to help anyone who did. He let the fire girl go for her, and to show the Capitol that they could play with them all they wanted, but in the end the players made the decisions and just this once he was gonna give 12 a chance. Just in case. His own little touch of rebellion and when Cato was driving his sword into Thresh's flesh over and over, that was the moment he thought of. He hoped his family was proud of him, just a little bit.

**D12 Peeta:**

He was still in shock at seeing Katniss take the stage when they called his name. He stumbled to take his place, seeing, but not seeing and as he looked at Katniss one thought was clear. He had to protect her. He wouldn't let her die. He would not just be a piece in their games.

**D12 Katniss:**

Of course she took Prim's place. She never tried to start a rebellion, she just did what she had to do and when she held up those berries she was just thinking of her and Peeta. She just wanted to save Prim and Peeta and make them remember Rue and Thresh.

* * *

They came from all over the country, from different worlds, but anyone could see it was an odd year. When Districts 11 and 12 stand a chance. When 5 makes it to the final four. When 3 turns the Gamemaker's weapons on them. When alliances spring up in the strangest places and are kept. When 4 doesn't make it out of the Bloodbath. When two twelve year olds are reaped. When someone volunteers from 12 and when two victors are allowed to live.

Each tribute had a story. Each of them was different. Whether they knew it or not, they changed the Games.

Each of them was a spark that helped Katniss set the world on fire.

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A/N: I hope you enjoyed it! If you did or have constructive criticism reviews will make my day!


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